Hi: The 5 50 Express 2x12 is my first new tube amp. When I plugged it in yesterday after returning from Guitar Center, I let it warm up for about 10 minutes. I'm pretty sure that the amp was never turned on at the shop. I started with the clean channel and worked my way up to the blues, crunch, and burn channels. At first I wasn't very impressed with the sound, especially with the crunch and burn channels. Today I took the amp to a friends place, where I could turn it up loud and began a 4 hour jam session. I began noticing that the harshness I heard with the higher gain channels was starting to mellow out. Is this normal for a new tube amp to go through a break in period? My friend bought a Black Heart tube amp last week and after playing through mine for a few minutes when it had been on for about 2 hours, was about ready to sell his and shop for an Express.
Tube break in?
- Thread starter BoogieTom
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It could be the speaker breaking in. Even new, I never considered my 5:50 to be harsh.
Newysurfer
Well-known member
BoogieTom said:
Having put brand new Celestion speakers in a few cabs they are pretty stiff to begin with.
Give it a few weeks for em to loosen up and if you've still got harshness look for other issues I reckon :mrgreen:
soundchaser59
Well-known member
I think it's interesting that you got better sound when you were able to crank it up. Seems like the lows and low mids only come out with more power. Makes sense acoustically, more power to get better low freqs, but I dont know if that's true while the signal is still inside the circuits and tubes.
If you want a simple demonstration of the difference in phat tone that you get when you drive the power tubes, put a clean boost in the fx loop. Compare the sound you get at the same volume/loudness level with the boost on and off. You'll have to adjust the knobs a bit to make the volulme sound the same either way, but I can almost guarantee you will hear a distinct difference even at low volumes. Mine definitely sounds harsher and less full at low volumes. I have a clean boost in my loop now and I leave it on all the time just for that reason.
If you want a simple demonstration of the difference in phat tone that you get when you drive the power tubes, put a clean boost in the fx loop. Compare the sound you get at the same volume/loudness level with the boost on and off. You'll have to adjust the knobs a bit to make the volulme sound the same either way, but I can almost guarantee you will hear a distinct difference even at low volumes. Mine definitely sounds harsher and less full at low volumes. I have a clean boost in my loop now and I leave it on all the time just for that reason.
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I like the BMF Fat ******* because it adds body rather than presence to my sound. I've also built an Orman Mini-Booster and had a Fulltone Fat Boost (Orman Mini-Booster knock off). They actually dirtied up the sound more than I liked and added too much treble for my taste.
soundchaser59
Well-known member
I use a BBE Boosta Grande. I sold the first one, tried others, then bought the BBE again. I can not tell if it colors the tone at all, but the others were pretty obvious, that's the main reason I went back to the BBE. You have to run it in to the front of the amp to tell if it colors the sound or not. Seems to be unity at about 11 o'clock, then switch on and off and I cant hear any difference. Under $100 bucks, 5 yr warranty, comes with power adapter, made in USA.
